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The Coalition
The Coalition is not much of a coalition; rather, nine separate states in a loose alliance at best, and a non-aggression pact at worst, under Tarsin hegemony, and the name its own inhabitants use is the Nine Realms. However, it claims to be the direct continuation of the Old Coalition, which was indeed a coalition of states under tight central control. Therefore, the term Coalition of Planets can still sometimes be found in official documents, especially in the contexts of first contact and ultimatums, which is how the Earthmen of Sôl learned of it. For eleven thousand years, the Coalition has stood as a beacon of light in a sea of insanity, serving as a stable force despite the vacuum of power that surrounds it. Repeated barbarian attacks, waves of plague, and economic downturns have done much to weaken it, but the foundations still stand strong. The might of the Nine Realms has decayed over the millennia into a shadow of what it once was; but there is still great power that can be unleashed, as Earth is learning. History Main article: History of the Coalition '' The Coalition spans eleven millennia of history, twice as long as all recorded civilization on Earth. Its chronicles number beyond all counting, its stores and logs of data too vast to be truly understood. As is only natural, most of it has slipped into oblivion, be it through the oblivion of time's consumption, or just the oblivion of an Archive storeroom three thousand feet below ground where no one has looked in the last forty-four centuries. This problem is compounded by the changes in the Tarsin language over the years. Tarsin laymen could not read records older than a thousand years anymore than an ordinary Englishman today could read Anglo-Saxon; and certainly no lay Tarsin could read older data as no ordinary Englishman could read the progenitor tongue of all Germanic language. It takes a highly trained and specialized Chronicler of the Archive to decode such documents. Beyond a few historical figures and events now turned to legend and myth, most of history is just a shrouded mystery to the average subject. Organization ''Main article: The Nine Realms Main article: The Archive The organization of the Nine Realms is confusing at best, and haphazard at worst. It is a patchwork of overlapping territories and undefined borders, the result of ten thousand years of poorly-managed bureaucracies and free-enterprising settlers, colonists, and explorers striking out on their own. On paper, the divisions of the Realms are clear, but in practice they are mangled worse than 16th-century Germany. Tarsin settlers move into a suitable planet in the Othaen Federation, while Arkanin adventurers stake out a new planet arguably within Digondarian jurisdiction that hasn't had a living soul set foot upon it in the last five ages. In normal circumstances, this would degenerate quickly into war, but the Coalition is not normal. The Zaian are quick to defuse such situations, simply making changes to their maps and sending word to the Archive about it. The Archive usually fails to do anything more with those, until every few centuries someone comes along and implements all the changes at once and horribly fails at it, leading to a confusing mish-mash of information thousands of years out of date or even outright false, leading everyone to be generally confounded and focus on a different problem instead. See also *The Beacon Cataclysm *The Empire of Tarsis *The Coalition Art of War *Imperial Navy *Partner Races *Notable Individuals *Etherspace * Tarsins Category:Coalition of Planets